


Girl Wonder

by JoMo3



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 07:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10826619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMo3/pseuds/JoMo3
Summary: Eleven and Mike bond over comic books.





	Girl Wonder

**Author's Note:**

> So with Free Comic Book Day coming up this Saturday, I wanted to do a little one-shot that's (somewhat) revolved around comic books.

It was a sunny day in Hawkins when Mike was finally able to take Eleven out of the house. Hopper and Joyce had told the boys that she needed time to recuperate after her return, and shouldn’t go anywhere just yet. But after a few weeks of resting, eating, and getting her strength back she had begun to get restless; so Joyce had agreed (after even more pleading from Mike) to let El leave the house to go somewhere.

Mike decided to take her to one of his favorite places, Dave’s Comic Stop, Hawkins’ go-to place for heroes, villains, and the like.

Mike filled her in on where they were going as she clutched his jacket on the bike ride downtown. As usual, she didn’t say much, but enjoyed listening to Mike’s excited voice as he described where they were going, and the cool breeze that ran through her growing head of hair.

When they arrived, he parked his bike in front of the store. Taking El’s hand, Mike led her inside.

As they stepped in, El took a moment to absorb it all.

She had come to enjoy the boys’ comic books. Since her return, she had begun to read them while she waited for the boys to come home from school. Living with the Byers, she went through Will’s collection quickly. At first she struggled to read the words; but after sitting with Mike, Will occasionally, and Joyce and Jonathan, she had picked up her reading skills; Joyce was fascinated at how fast she caught on. After a little more than a month of coming back, she had gone through most of Will’s comics, and pretty soon after, Mike would bring over some of his comic books for Eleven to read. 

What she enjoyed the most, at first, were the colorful illustrations. As she got better with her reading skills, however, she began to enjoy the stories and adventures the characters went through. She liked reading about Spider-Man’s battles with Doctor Octopus and Electro; Batman dueling with the Joker and Ra’s Al Ghul; Superman waging war on Lex Luthor and wooing Lois Lane.

Mike turned to her. “What do you think, El?”

“Nice.” Was her response. 

“Hey guys,” a man with a friendly face said, walking over. To Mike, he asked “Who's your friend?”

“This is El,” Mike told him. 

“Oh. Well, nice to meet you, El. I'm Dave.”

She gave him a shy smile.

“Let me know if you guys need anything,” Dave told them.

Letting go of Mike’s hand, Eleven walked around the store, looking at all of the brightly colored covers. She saw a few familiar faces from the comics that she had been looking at over the past few weeks as well as some new ones.

Mike stayed a few feet behind her, staying close in case she got nervous, but a few steps behind to give her space. 

After browsing a bit, they selected some comics to read. Mike got 4 comics but El’s eyes got bigger than the $20 Joyce had given her to spend, so Mike (gladly) paid the difference for her comic books.

 

After leaving, the two ended up in Mike’s basement, sitting on the couch, reading comics and chomping on popcorn. El got to a certain panel in her comic, and looked up.

“Mike?”

“Yeah?” he asked, looking up from his Flash book.

She showed him an image. “What are they doing?”

Mike looked closer. When he saw what it was, he got red.

In the picture in question, Cyclops was kissing Jean Grey passionately.

“It’s, um,” he stuttered, “it’s kissing.”

“What is that?” she asked.

Mike scratched the back of his neck. “It’s, uh….when two people like each other, they put their mouths together.”

El’s eyes widened as she understood. “Like you and me? At school?”

“Yeah,” Mike said, his blush spreading.

“Friends kiss?” she asked. 

“Sometimes,” Mike explained. “Usually it's for people that are more than friends.”

El remembered something Mike had said that night. “Someone you like?”

“Yeah.”

She pointed at the page. “And Cyclops likes Jean?”

Mike nodded.

El nodded her head, then went back to reading her comic book.

A little later it was time to take El back. Mike biked her back home to the Byers, as they talked about what they had read. When they arrived at her home, they told each other goodbye. Mike was turning to leave when he heard her soft footsteps coming back. He turned, and was caught by surprise when Eleven gave him a quick, soft kiss on the lips. 

Blushing, she shyly said, “You're someone I like.”

Before he could respond, she had turned and ran back inside. 

 

When he got back home, Mike couldn't help but grin when he thought about what had happened. 

_ El had kissed him! _ Even after she found out what a kiss meant, she'd done it anyway. He was beyond ecstatic.

He went into the basement to clean up the popcorn that the two hadn’t finished, when he saw that El had left the X-Men comic behind. Picking it up, an idea sprang to mind.

Grabbing his Supercom, he called, “Will? You there? Pick up. Over.”

The static crackled for a few seconds before Will came on. “Yeah?”

“I wanted to know if you could help me with something. Over.”

“Umm okay. What is it? Over?”

“Something for El. I want…”

Mike informed his friend of his idea. On his end, Will was nodding his head and smiling, liking the idea.

 

Over the next few days, El worried that she’d done something wrong. When she had seen the picture of Cyclops and Jean Grey, all she could think about was that time she and Mike had “kissed” in the school, and how warm it had made her feel inside. When she’d kissed him, she’d been too nervous to see his reaction and had run into the house.

But here it was, three days later, and she hadn’t talked to Mike. He usually came over every day; or if not, he would call her on the Supercomm. She had kissed him on Sunday; Monday she had tried calling him. He’d responded, but seemed distracted while they talked. Neither of them brought up the kiss.

On Tuesday she was hoping he would come over with Will, but he hadn’t; in fact, Will had gone over to Mike’s house but said he had “forgotten” to ask El if she wanted to go.

So here it was, Wednesday afternoon at 3:15. She was going to try and call Mike on the Supercomm at 3:30. If he didn’t pick up, she would ask Jonathan to drive her over to see him.

She didn’t have to; at 3:25, Mike and Will came in the back door, talking animatedly about something. El, sitting at the kitchen table, gave a small smile to the two.

“Hi, Mike,” she said, shyly.

He smiled back, warming her up inside. “Hi, El. What’d you do today?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. I watched some car...car…” She couldn’t remember the word.

“Cartoons?” Will offered.

She nodded her head and looked at Mike. “Um, Mike? Can I talk to you?”

“Uh…” Mike said, glancing at Will. “Will and I have to go do some homework real quick, El. Can we talk after that?”

Feeling deflated, El nodded.

She spent the next twenty minutes halfheartedly flipping through some of Will’s comic books as he and Mike worked in Will’s room. She couldn’t help thinking to herself,  _ Why did you kiss him? He doesn’t even like you anymore _ .

A minute after this thought crossed her mind, she heard Will’s door open, and Mike came into the family room with his backpack.

“Hey, El,” he said, sitting next to her.

She gave him a quiet “Hi.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking worried.

“Nothing.”

“El, really? What’s wrong?”

Turning to him, she said “You don’t like me?”

“What?” he asked, eyes widening. “Why would you say that?”

“You…” she looked at her lap. “You haven’t talked to me. I kissed you and you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Mike sighed. “No, El, it’s not like that.. I...I didn’t mean to do that. I was trying to...here.” Opening his backpack, he reached inside and came out with some papers stapled together. Avoiding her eyes, he handed her the pages.

El was surprised by what she saw; it was a hand-drawn comic book.

On the cover, in big, bold, letters, it read “Eleven: Girl Wonder” and there was a drawing of her, standing at the edge of a cliff, glaring into the sky with her hand out, as if she was stopping something. Standing at her sides were drawings of Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas.

On the back of the cover page were “credits” that read: art by Will Byers; story by Mike Wheeler and Will Byers.

Smiling, Mike moved closer to El. “See,” he said, pointing to the cover, “This is us at the quarry. You know, where you saved me?”

She nodded her head, a smile growing on her lips.

There were a total of three pages; the cover page and two papers split into 4 panels on each side. She started to read it but Mike, in his excitement, was already telling the story.

“It’s about you coming to Hawkins and stopping a bunch of bad guys. The guys and I are like your sidekicks.” He shook his head. “I had to give Will my X-Men 142 to get him to help. But he said he’d help me with more, if you liked it.”

She looked at him, tears building in her eyes. “This...you made this for me?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I know pretty soon you’re going to run out of comic books to read, and I thought maybe you’d want to read this. I…” he took her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you, El. I was trying to keep it a secret. Since I can’t draw, Will was helping me out with the pictures. I wanted to surprise you. I was worried that if I saw you  I’d give it away.” He sighed. “But El, I...I liked…”

“Did she like it?” Will asked, coming into the room and interrupting Mike.

Mike and El let go of each other’s hands.

El nodded at Will, who came over and told El about the pictures.

 

That night, El read and reread and reread the comic book about herself, and gave both of the boys a big hug.

When it was time for Mike to go home, El walked with him into the backyard to get his bike.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, I  _ promise _ ,” he said, which made her smile.

“Ok.”

Sighing, he paused. Putting his bike down, he walked closer to her and, after looking in her eyes, gave her a kiss on the lips. They both smiled into it as she put her hands on his shoulders and he put his on her arms as she returned the kiss.

After a few seconds, they pulled apart, and Mike rested his forehead on hers.

“You’re someone I like, too,” he whispered.

El had never felt happier.

**Author's Note:**

> I love kudos and comments...


End file.
